After 33 years in prison, Quebec man released on bail says he's 'rediscovering the joys of life'
CBC
Daniel Jolivet, 68, had his first taste of freedom this weekend after spending the last 33 years behind bars.
"It's marvelous," Jolivet told Radio-Canada's Tout un matin in Montreal on Monday. "It's a return to life."
Jolivet said the weekend was about making discoveries and observing how time has moved forward on the outside.
"I'm rediscovering the joy of life, the city, new things, everything that didn't exist before, everything that has been developed over the last 33 years," he said.
Jolivet was convicted in 1994 of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in Brossard, Que., south of Montreal, in the November 1992 shooting deaths of two men and two women.
He has always maintained his innocence in the killings. Last week, he was granted bail and released from prison pending the outcome of a federal review into a possible miscarriage of justice.
Jolivet's lawyer, Nicholas St-Jacques, said no one is ever completely safe from a wrongful conviction and that Jolivet's case is a good reminder of that.
"A criminal case is a chain of decisions and human interventions," he said.
St-Jacques notes it starts with a witness, then police, Crown prosecutors, defence lawyers and then a judge who makes a decision at the end."At each stage there's a possibility of a wrongful conviction," he said.
St-Jacques, who has worked on Jolivet's case for 17 years, called his release a "victory for justice" and credited Jolivet for his tenacity despite the many setbacks.
The look in his eyes, St-Jacques said, was of someone "who would never give up."
Jolivet, for his part, said tenacity and resilience were traits passed down to him by his mother.
"It was long," he said of the decades he spent incarcerated, but proving his innocence kept him motivated.
"I constantly sought to obtain documented proof," he said, adding he learned how to file access to information requests and pushed for answers.
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